MSPO 2020: Polish-made Perun armed UGV Unammed Ground Vehicle tested in the field.

According to information released by the Polish company Tarnow Mechanical Plant, a subdivision of the Polish Armament Group (PGZ) during MSPO, the International Defense Exhibition in Poland, the company has carried out field tests of the Polish-made armed UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) called Perun.

Polish-made Perun armed UGV Unmanned Ground Vehicle. (Picture source Army Recognition)

A prototype of the Perun Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) was unveiled in September 2019, during the previous edition of MSPO, defense exhibition in Poland. The UGV was designed according to the requests of the Polish Army to have an autonomous vehicle that can be fitted with a weapon station and able to conduct reconnaissance and combat missions.

According to the needs of the Polish Army, the new wheeled autonomous vehicle will have a maximum weight of 900 kg with good off-road capabilities which can be operated in urban and all-terrain conditions. It will have also the possibility to integrate a remote weapon station as well as an automatic target tracking system.

The Perun was designed to provide fire support for infantry units. It is based on a modular design allowing the UGV to be quickly reconfigured to conduct logistics, reconnaissance, and combat missions. It can remotely be controlled by one soldier with a maximum control range of 5 km with a stationary unit or 3 km with a mobile control unit. The UGV is also fitted with a wide range of sensors including a gunfire locator, weather station, contamination, and radiation detector.

The Perun UGV can be used in manual mode or in autonomous mode using a saved route plan, while the operator is only responsible to control the weapon systems and vision equipment mounted on the platform. The UGV is electrically powered allowing operation for at least 10 hours with a maximum range of 50 km.

At MSPO 2019, the Perun UGV was equipped with the ZSMU A3C remote-controlled weapon station (armed with 7.62 mm UKM 2000C/12.7 mm WKM-B). The weapon provides sufficient fire to annihilate lightly armored ground targets and low-flying airborne targets at any time of the day. The wide range of angles that position the module gives effective fire support. The ZSMU A3C is equipped with an external feeding mechanism, a turret stabilizer, and a video tracker.